‘I killed a man,’ I said slowly.
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Rider? You mustn’t think of it like that.’
‘No, not Harry.’ I told him what had happened.
As I spoke the expression on his face changed to startled bewilderment, and when I finally wound down he said, ‘So we’re under observation—and Gatt’s out there.’
‘With an army,’ I said. ‘That’s what Pat Harris was trying to tell you—but you wouldn’t listen. Gatt has brought his own men from the States and recruited chicleros to help him in the forest. And the fire in the radio shack wasn’t an accident—nor was the crash of the chopper.’
‘You’re certain it was sabotage?’
‘Harry was,’ I said. ‘And I believe him. I also think the other chopper—the big one at Camp One—was sabotaged. Your jet is stranded in Mexico City, too. We’re isolated here.’
Fallon looked grim. ‘How many men did you see with Gatt?’
‘I didn’t stop to count—but from first to last I must have seen twenty-five. Some of those I might have bumped into more than once, of course, but I’d say that’s a fair reckoning.’ I stretched my hand and laid it against the coolness of the water jug. ‘I can make a fair guess at what they’ll do next.’
‘And what’s your guess?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? They’re going to hi-jack us. Gatt wants the stuff we’ve brought up from the cenote and any other trinkets we may have found. It’s still here, isn’t it?’
Fallon nodded. ‘I should have sent it out before.’ He stood up and looked out of the window. ‘What puzzles me is how you—and Gatt—can be certain of this.’
I was too tired to yell at him but I made an effort. ‘Damn it, I’ve been bringing the stuff out of the water, haven’t I?’
He turned. ‘But Gatt doesn’t know that. How can he know, unless someone told him? We haven’t broadcast it.’
I thought about that, then said softly, ‘I was in the forest for nearly a week after the sabotage and Gatt still hasn’t made a move. He’s out there and he’s ready, so what’s holding him up?’
‘Uncertainty, perhaps,’ suggested Fallon. ‘He can’t really know that we’ve found anything valuable—valuable to him, that is.’
‘True. But all he has to do is to walk in here and find a million and a half dollars that’s here for the taking.’
‘More than that,’ said Fallon. ‘Paul made a big find in the Temple of Yum Chac. He wasn’t supposed to start excavating, but he did, and he stumbled across a cache of temple implements. They’re priceless, Jemmy; nothing like this has been found before.’
‘Nothing is priceless to Gatt,’ I said. ‘What would it be worth to him?’
‘As a museum collection you couldn’t put a price on it. But if Gatt split it up and sold the pieces separately, then maybe he could pick up another million and a half.’
I looked at Fallon sourly. ‘And you had the nerve to tell me there wouldn’t be any gold in Uaxuanoc. We know Gatt can recognize the value, and we know he can dispose of it through Gerryson. So what do we do! Just hand it to him when he comes calling with his goons?’
‘In all fairness I think we’d better talk it over with the others,’ said Fallon. ‘Do you feel up to it?’
‘I’m all right,’ I said, and swung my legs out of bed.
It was a gloomy and depressing conference. I told my story and, after a few minutes of unbelieving incomprehension, I managed to ram it down their throats that we were in trouble. Fallon didn’t need convincing, of course, but Paul Halstead was as contrary a bastard as ever. ‘This whole thing sounds very unlikely,’ he said in his damned superior way.
I bristled. ‘Are you calling me a liar?’
Fallon put his hand on my arm warningly. Halstead said, ‘No, but I think you’re exaggerating—and using your imagination.’
I said, ‘Take a walk out into the forest. If you run into a bullet it won’t harm you if it’s imaginary.’
‘I certainly think you could have done more to help poor Rider,’ he said.
I leaned over the table to grab him but he pulled back sharply. ‘That’s enough!’ barked Fallon. ‘Paul, if you haven’t anything constructive to say, keep your mouth shut.’
Katherine Halstead unexpectedly attacked her husband for the first time. ‘Yes—shut up, Paul,’ she said curtly. ‘You make me sick.’ He looked at her in bewildered astonishment. ‘You’re not taking Wheale’s side again?’ he said in a hurt voice.
‘There are no sides—there never have been,’ she said in an icy voice. ‘If anyone uses his imagination, it’s not Jemmy.’ She looked across at me. ‘I’m sorry, Jemmy.’
‘I won’t have you apologizing for me,’ he blazed.
‘I’m not,’ she said in a voice that would cut a diamond. ‘I’m apologizing to Jemmy on my own behalf—for not listening to him earlier. Now just shut up as Professor Fallon says.’
Halstead was so surprised at this attack from an unexpected quarter that he remained silent and somewhat thoughtful. I looked across at Rudetsky. ‘What do you think?’
‘I believe you,’ he said. ‘We had some trouble with those goddamn chicleros back at Camp One. They’re a murderous lot of bastards, and I’m not surprised they took a shot at you.’ He squared his big shoulders and addressed himself to Fallon. ‘But this guy, Gatt, is something else again. We didn’t know about him.’
‘It wasn’t necessary for you to know,’ said Fallon colourlessly.
Rudetsky’s face took on a stubbornness. ‘I reckon it was, Mr Fallon. If Gatt has organized the chicleros it means big trouble. Getting shot at wasn’t in the contract. I don’t like it—and neither do Smitty and Fowler here.’ The other two men nodded seriously.
I said, ‘What are you trying to do, Rudetsky? Start a trade union? It’s a bit late for that. Whether or not Mr Fallon misled you is beside the point. In any case I don’t think he did it deliberately. The point at issue now is what do we do about Gatt?’
Fallon said wearily, ‘There’s only one thing we can do. Let him have what he wants.’
Smith and Fowler nodded vigorously, and Rudetsky said, ‘That’s what I think too.’ Katherine Halstead’s lips tightened, while Halstead twisted his head and looked about the table with watchful eyes.
‘Is that a fact?’ I said. ‘We just give Gatt three million dollars, pat him on the head and hope he’ll go away. A fat chance of that happening.’
Rudetsky leaned forward. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I’m sure you’re not as stupid as that, Joe. Gatt is committing a crime—he’s stealing three million dollars of someone else’s property. I don’t know who this stuff legally belongs to, but I’m sure the Mexican Government has a big claim. Do you really think that Gatt will allow anyone to go back to Mexico City to put in an official complaint?’
‘Oh, my God!’ said Fallon as the reality of the situation hit him.
‘You mean—hell knock us off—all of us?’ said Rudetsky in a rising voice.
‘What would you do in his position?’ I asked cynically. ‘Given, of course, that you don’t have too much regard for the sanctity of human life.’
There was a sudden babble of voices, above which rose Rudetsky’s bull-like tones cursing freely. Smith yelled, ‘I’m getting out of here.’
I thumped the table and yelled, ‘Belt up—the lot of you!’ To my surprise they all stopped suddenly and looked towards me. I hadn’t been used to asserting myself and maybe I over-did it—anyway, it worked. I stabbed my finger at Smith. ‘And where the hell do you think you’re going to go? Move ten yards into that forest and they’ve got you cold. You wouldn’t stand a chance.’
Smith’s face went very pale and he swallowed nervously. Fowler said, ‘Jeez; he’s right, Smitty! That’s out.’
There was a sudden strength in Fallon’s voice. ‘This is impossible, Wheale; you’re dragging up bogies. Do you realize what a stink there would be if Gatt went through with this…this mass murder?
Do you think that a man can disappear with no questions asked? He’d never go through with it.’
‘No? Who else but us knows that Gatt is here? He’s experienced—he has an organization. I’ll bet he can whistle up a hundred witnesses to prove he’s in Mexico City right now. He’ll make damned sure that there is no one to tie him up with this thing.’
Katherine’s face was pale. ‘But when they find us…find our bodies…they’ll know that…’
‘I’m sorry, Katherine,’ I said. ‘But they won’t find us. You could bury an army in Quintana Roo and the bodies would never be found. We’ll just disappear.’
Halstead said, ‘You’ve put your finger on it, Wheale. Who else but us knows that Gatt is here? And the only reason we know is because of your say-so. I haven’t seen him, and neither has anyone else—except you. I think you’re trying to stampede us into something.’
I stared at him. ‘And why the devil should I want to do that?’
He shrugged elaborately. ‘You pushed your way into this expedition right from the start. Also, you’ve been very interested in the cash value of everything we’ve found. I don’t think I have to say much more, do I?’
‘No, you bloody well don’t,’ I snapped. ‘And you’d better not or I’ll ram your teeth down your throat.’ All the others were looking at me in silence, letting me know that this was a charge that had to be answered. ‘If I wanted to stampede you why would I prevent Smith going off? Why would I want to keep us together?’
Rudetsky blew out his breath explosively and looked at Halstead with dislike. ‘Jesus! For a minute this guy had me going. I ought to have known better.’ Halstead stirred uneasily under the implied contempt, and Rudetsky said to me, ‘So what do we do, Mr Wheale?’
I was about to say, ‘Why ask me?’ but one look at Fallon made me change my mind. He was oddly shrunken and stared blindly in front of him, contemplating some interior vision. What he was thinking I don’t know and I’d hate to guess, but it was evident that we couldn’t rely on him for a lead. Halstead couldn’t lead a blind man across a street, while Rudetsky was a good sergeant type, super-efficient when told what to do—but he had to be told. And Smith and Fowler would follow Rudetsky.
I have never been a leader of men because I never particularly wanted to lead anyone anywhere. I was always of the opinion that a man should make his own way and that if he used the brains God gave him, then he didn’t have to follow in anyone’s footsteps and, by the same token, neither should he expect anyone to follow him. I was a lone wolf, a rampant individualist, and it was because of that, perhaps, I was labelled grey and colourless. I didn’t take the trouble to convert anyone to my point of view, an activity which seems to be a passionate preoccupation with others, and it was put down to lack of anything worthwhile to say—quite wrongly.
And now, in the quiet hut, everyone seemed to be waiting for me to take over—to do something positive. Everyone except Fallon, who had withdrawn, and Halstead, of course, who would be actively against me for whatever peculiar reasons occurred to his warped mind. Rudetsky said in a pleading voice, ‘We gotta do something.’
‘Gatt will be moving in very soon,’ I said. ‘What weapons have we?’
‘There’s a shotgun and a rifle,’ said Rudetsky. ‘Those are camp stores. And I have a handgun of my own packed in my kit.’
‘I have a revolver,’ said Fowler.
I looked around. ‘Any more?’
Fallon shook his head slowly and Halstead just regarded me with an unwinking stare. Katherine said, ‘Paul has a pistol.’
‘A shotgun, a rifle and three pistols. That’s a start, anyway. Joe, which hut do you think is most easily dependable?’
‘Are you thinking of having a battle?’ asked Halstead. ‘If Gatt is out there—which I doubt—you won’t stand a chance. I think you’re nuts.’
‘Would you prefer to let Gatt cut your throat? Offer your neck to the knife? Well, Joe?’
‘Your hut might be best,’ said Rudetsky. ‘It’s near to the cenote, which means they can’t get close in back.’
I looked at the empty shelves. ‘Where’s all the loot?’
‘I packed it all up,’ said Fallon. ‘Ready to go when the helicopter came in.’
‘Then you’ll have to unpack it again,’ I said. ‘We’ve got to get rid of it.’
Halstead jerked upright. ‘Goddamn it, what are you going to do? That material is priceless.’
‘No, it’s not,’ I said bluntly. ‘It has a price on it—seven lives! Gatt may kill us for it, if he can get it. But if we can put it out of his reach he may not consider seven murders worth the candle.’
Fowler said, ‘That figures. But what are you going to do with it?’
‘Dump the lot back into the cenote,’ I said brutally. ‘He’ll never get it out without a lengthy diving operation, and I don’t think he’ll stick around to try.’
Halstead went frantic. ‘You can’t do that,’ he shouted. ‘We may never be able to retrieve it.’
‘Why not? Most of it came out of the cenote in the first place. It won’t be lost forever. Come to that—I don’t give a damn if it is; and neither do these men here. Not if it saves our lives.’
‘Hell, no!’ said Rudetsky. ‘I say dump the stuff.’
Halstead appealed to Fallon. ‘You can’t let them do this.’
Fallon looked up. ‘Jemmy appears to have taken charge. He’ll do what he must.’ His mouth twisted into a ghastly simulacrum of a smile. ‘And I don’t think you can stop him, Paul.’
‘The cave,’ said Katherine suddenly. ‘We can put it in the cave.’
Halstead’s head jerked round. ‘What cave?’ he demanded suspiciously.
There’s an underwater cave about sixty-five feet down in the cenote,’ I said. ‘That’s a good idea, Katherine. It’ll be as safe and unavailable there as anywhere else.’
‘I’ll help you,’ she said.
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ snapped Halstead. ‘You’ll not lend a hand to this crazy scheme.’
She looked at him levelly. ‘I’m not taking orders from you any more, Paul. I’m going my own way for a change. I’m going to do what I think is right. Uaxuanoc has destroyed you, Paul; it has warped you into something other than the man I married, and I’m not going to be used as a tool for your crazy obsessions. I think we’re finished—you and I.’
He hit her—not a slap with an open palm, but with his clenched fist. It caught her under the jaw and lifted her clean across the hut to fall in a tumbled heap by the wall.
I wasted no time in thoughts of fair fights and Queensberry Rules, but grabbed a bottle from the table and crowned him hard. The bottle didn’t break but it didn’t do him any good. He gasped and his knees buckled under him, but he didn’t go down, so I laid the bottle across his head again and he collapsed to the floor.
‘All right,’ I said, breathing hard and hefting the bottle, ‘has anyone else any arguments?’
Rudetsky grunted deep in his chest. ‘You did all right,’ he said. ‘I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks.’ He helped Fowler to lift Katherine to her feet, and brought her to a chair by the table. Nobody worried about Halstead; they just let him lie where he fell.
Katherine was dizzy and shaken, and Fallon poured out a stiff drink for her. ‘I pleaded with you not to have him along,’ he said in a low voice.
‘That’s water under the bridge,’ I said. ‘I’m as much to blame as anyone.’ Rudetsky was hovering solicitously behind Katherine. ‘Joe, I want his gun. I don’t trust the bastard with it.’
‘It’s in the box by the bed,’ said Katherine weakly.
Rudetsky made a sign with his hand. ‘Go get it, Smitty.’ He looked down at Halstead and stirred him with his foot. ‘You sure got him good. He’s going to have one hell of a headache.’
Katherine choked over the whisky. ‘Are you all right?’ I asked.
She fingered the side of her jaw tenderly. ‘He’s insane,’ she whispered. ‘He’s gone mad.
’
I stood up and took Rudetsky on one side. ‘Better get Halstead back into his hut. And if it can be locked, lock it. We have enough on our plate without having to handle that lunatic.’
His grin was pure enjoyment. ‘I’d have done the same long ago but I thought Fallon would can me. Oh, boy, but you tapped him good!’
I said, ‘You can have a crack at him any time you like, and you don’t have to worry about being fired. It’s open season on Halstead now; I’ve stopped being so bloody tolerant.’
Rudetsky and Fowler bent to pick up Halstead, who was showing signs of coming round. They got him to his feet and he looked at me blankly with glazed eyes, showing no sign of recognition, then Fowler pushed him out of the hut.
I turned to Katherine. ‘How are you doing?’
She gave me a wry and lop-sided smile. ‘As well as might be expected,’ she said gently. ‘After a public brawl with my husband.’ She looked down at the table. ‘He’s changed so much.’
‘He’ll change a lot more if he causes trouble,’ I said. ‘And not in a way he likes. His credit’s run out Katherine, and you can’t do anything more for him. You can’t be a barrier between him and the rest of the world any more.’
‘I know,’ she said sombrely.
There was a shout from outside the hut and I spun around to the doorway. A single shot sounded in the distance, to be followed by a fusillade of rifle fire, a ragged pattering of shots. I left the hut at a dead run and made for the outskirts of the camp, to be waved down by Rudetsky who was sheltering behind a hut.
I went forward at a crouch and joined him. ‘What the hell’s going on?’
‘Halstead made a break for it,’ he said, breathing heavily. ‘He ran for the forest and we tried to follow him. Then they opened up on us.’
‘What about Halstead? Did they fire on him?’
‘I reckon he’s dead,’ said Rudetsky. ‘I saw him go down as he reached the trees.’
There was a muffled sound from behind and I turned to see Katherine. ‘Get back to the hut,’ I said angrily. ‘It’s dangerous here.’
Two big tears squeezed from beneath her eyelids and rolled down her cheek as she turned away, and there was a dispirited droop to her shoulders.
The Golden Keel / The Vivero Letter Page 52